


Trail

by Angel_Negra



Category: Power Rangers Mystic Force
Genre: Gen, post-season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-15
Updated: 2011-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Negra/pseuds/Angel_Negra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The road to knighthood includes many teachers, even elves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trail

**Author's Note:**

> Written for both the Elves square on my fanbingo card and for TPTigger.

Chip settled on the log and absently kicked his feet while he waited. He stared over at the nearby village, wondering where his teacher for the day was. In the town square, Toby seemed to be teaching several fairies how to play guitar and head-bang at the same time. Daggeron was talking with several of the farmers near the general store, hefting a couple of farming implements of his own. Clare was talking animatedly with a troll by the food stands, Chip wasn't sure but they were either arguing over the price of several vegetables, or agreeing on the virtues of the vegetables. Then Garren stumbled up to him, clutching several rolls of parchment and some bundles of cloth.

"Hi," said Chip, grinning at the elf. "Are you ready for me?" He bounced a bit in excitement. "I've never learned tracking from an elf before. Or learned anything from an elf."

Garren gave him a distracted smile. "Yes, yes. We should go deeper into the woods."

"Okay," Chip said, hopping to his feet.

Garren walked at a brisk pace, his eyes on his parchments. He'd duck to avoid branches, or side step roots, all without looking up.

Chip started speculating on his training as they walked. "Magic tracking. I bet you know the difference between a dragon's tracks and a griffon's, right?" He tugged a few leaves off a tree branch. "And how to tell how far away a unicorn is from it's spoor! I always wondered what a spoor was."

Garren came to a sudden stop in a clearing. "We're here," he said.

"Awesome!" He spotted something red out of the corner of his eye and pointed at it excitedly. "Hey, is that a spoor?"

"No," said Garren, peering at it. "That's a mushroom."

"Is it a poisonous mushroom?"

"Yes."

Chip grinned, he now knew that bright red mushrooms with green spots was poisonous. "Cool!"

Garren smiled thinly and gestured at a tree stump. "Please have a seat, Mystic Warrior."

"Awesome, I'm ready!" Dropping down onto the stump, Chip grinned at Garren.

Garren started opening the bundles of cloth and laying out the items within on the ground. There was an animal horn, a claw, and a beautiful pale yellow crystal. "Magic," he said, "is in all things. There is no creature that has more or less magic than another, simply... different ways to access and use it." He looked expectantly at Chip.

Chip kicked his feet absently while he thought about this. "So, when we were fighting the Master's minions, it wasn't that we got more powerful, we just got better at using the magic we had?"

"Yes, exactly."

"And... When someone takes our magic, it's not really gone, we just forget how to access it?"

Garren nods. "Tracking magic is not rooted in the physical realm. It's about being able to recognize the magic used by others that aren't you."

Chip nodded to show he understand. He started to raise his hand before he remembered that he wasn't in school anymore. "How do you do that?"

"First, you must learn to recognize the shape and feel of the magic within you. Has your instructor taught you about the Garuda?"

"A bit," said Chip. "We were kind of busy at the time. But I did look them up on the internet! Maddie helped me find some links."

Garren blinked in confusion, then shook his head and apparently decided to move on. "Very well. Close your eyes and think about your magic and your connection to the Mystic Titan Garuda."

Chip closed his eyes and tried to focus on his magic. Thoughts kept distracting him; he wondered if Clare knew about the poisonous mushroom and if it had any useable properties in potions; and maybe Xander could teach him tips for clearing his head; and if LeeLee liked the book he lent her. Eventually though, everything faded to the background and Chip felt it.

It wasn't so much a separate thing inside him as it was truly a part of him. It was the crackle in his veins that always had him jumping and dashing around and acting out scenarios. It was the spark and fizzle of his thoughts, the way they always jumped around and lit up with new ideas and fun stories. It was the steadiness in him when he aimed an arrow or crossbow bolt, that knowledge that he was going to send something out to strike true.

He was as much the lightning as the lightning was him. He smiled softly and focused on the Garuda. On how it felt to fly. Garudas were storm birds, every beat of the wings was a lighting bolt, a cry was a thunder clap. Garudas were both small and giant, whatever they wished. They hunted whales for food, such tiny creatures, and could dry an ocean with a single beat of wings.

Chip could feel his smile growing. He opened his eyes and gasped. The clearing and everything in it seemed to shimmer. He could see the sparks of life and storm all around, where trees had drank the rain water, where the wind was going now. He looked up at the three fluffy white clouds in the sky, there would be a raging thunder storm in Angel Grove in two days, and a grey drizzle in Reefside three days after that.

"Cool," he whispered.

"Now," said Garren, holding up the animal horn. "Look at the magic left in here and tell me what you see."

Chip squinted at it. There was the rain, and the air, but it was... earthier. He could see how it remembered running through the woods, the magic of the woods reaching out gently to it in recognition. There was light in it too, sun, yes, but night too. "...A unicorn?"

Garren smiled proudly. "Yes. And that, Mystic Warrior is lesson one." He put the horn down.

Laughing, Chip asked. "Can we start lesson two right now?"

End


End file.
